Vista Beer Tour: Mother Earth Brew Co.

My third stop was at Mother Earth Brew Co., a combination brewery, tasting room and homebrew supply store. When I first visited Mother Earth in June of 2010, their equipment setup looked more like a soup kitchen—several large metal pots stacked atop portable burners. It’s a common setup for a nanobrewery, the term applied to the lowest production class of commercial brewing operations. Back then, they brewed three batches of beer a day the whole week through, producing a constantly rotating assortment of beers covering dozens of styles from around the world. That variety made each trip to their tasting bar different and kept a great many locals coming back for more.

Mother Earth owner and head brewer, Dan Love, now has a much more substantial 10-barrel brewhouse that’s poised to pump out 700 barrels of beer in 2012. He’s also purchased additional fermenters, an external brite tank and a bottling line. 22-ounce bombers of their beers will be available starting in May or June. Now that their current location is built up, they are looking to open a second space located in Vista’s Old Town area that will house a taproom and another homebrew store. They plan on installing a second brewhouse there so they can transition their current digs into a production brewery. This hefty project is set to kick off in March.

Currently, Mother Earth’s beers can be found at a number of spots around town including Blind Lady Ale House, Tiger! Tiger!, Ritual Tavern, Churchill’s Pub and Grille, Sublime Alehouse and URGE American Gastropub. Love has worked with URGE owner, Grant Tondro, to produce a pair of special beers exclusively for that Rancho Bernardo restaurant. A third one is in the works and, though it’s still top secret at press time, Love is hoping it will look good beside beers like Russian River’s Pliny the Younger and Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA. For now, Love and company have several other hoppy selections ready and waiting at their tasting bar. Mother Earth Brew Co. is located at 2055 Thibodo Road.